Bryan Danielson Gives Surgery Update And Talks Prospects Of Wrestling Again

Bryan Danielson is back on the road with All Elite Wrestling as the new lead analyst on commentary for episodes of AEW Dynamite, but the chances of him ever competing inside the ring again appear to be dwindling by the day.

Save for an 8-second dark match squash victory over Max Caster during a Collision taping this summer, Danielson has not wrestled since he lost the AEW Men's World Championship to Jon Moxley at WrestleDream 2024.

It was heavily promoted that when his run with the title came to a close, so too would his full-time wrestling career. Hope remained, however, that he'd occasionally be able to lace up his boots once his ailing neck had the proper time to rest and recover.

Jon Moxley's 4th reign as #AEW World Champion begins tonight as the reign and career of Bryan Danielson is over.

Order #AEWWrestleDream LIVE on PPV!https://t.co/JlBXZPLNGj @BryanDanielson | @JonMoxley pic.twitter.com/agp3JLAx0N
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 13, 2024

The American Dragon was a guest on Insight with Chris Van Vliet Thursday and he said that he's still in pretty rough physical condition more than year removed from his clash with Moxley.

“I have degeneration from C1 all the way down to T2," Danielson said. "I’m on the cusp of needing surgery... I’d like to avoid surgery as much as possible."

Danielson underwent successful neck surgery more than a decade ago, but he told CVV that he never regained full strength or mobility in the years after the procedure.

He's at a much different point in his life now and admitted that he's a bit concerned about the challenges of the rehab process, especially as a father of two young children.

Any father of with a young son can relate

Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley | Lee South - All Elite Wrestling

"My son is a menace. I had a broken arm... I’m in a sling. I was like, ‘Buddy, you can’t touch daddy’s arm.’ And he’s jumping on my arm and all this kind of stuff," Bryan said while envisioning what it would be like trying to recover from another neck procedure.

"He’s pure boy. No matter how many times Brie [Bella] tells him, and I tell him, but not as forcefully as Brie does, but Brie is, like, ‘Get off of daddy’s neck!’ And he just can’t not do it. It’s just like a boy thing. Our daughter is super good about it, but he’s all boy.”

Despite his current condition, Danielson would not commit to saying he's fully retired. He claims to hate the word after being forced to step away from WWE in 2016, but he admitted to CVV that he'll never be the same performer in the ring that he used to be.

“I was actually doing really well until I started traveling more, and then it’s really gone downhill," Danielson said. "I had these delusions about like, ‘Okay, maybe I could get back and do a little bit of wrestling or whatever it is.’ Now I see that they were delusions. This traveling is like, ‘Okay, yeah, that would not be a good idea.'”

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